A new biosensing platform could be used to create a phone app that tests for certain infections such as HIV and E-coli.
The platform is composed of a lightweight and flexible material that can detect pathogens in a single drop of blood, Florida Atlantic University reported.
Scientists integrated cellulose paper and flexible polyester films to create the new system, which can detect bioagents in whole blood, serum and peritoneal fluid.
"There is a dire need for robust, portable, disposable and inexpensive biosensing platforms for clinical care, especially in developing countries with limited resources," said Waseem Asghar, Ph.D., assistant professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at FAU.
Most modern platforms use colorimetric, fluorometric and electrochemical approaches that are often complicated and costly. This new breakthrough helps solve some of these problems.
"The future of diagnostics and health monitoring will have potentially cell-phone based or portable readers sipping saliva or blood and continuously monitoring human health taking it way beyond where we are with counting steps today," said Utkan Demirci of Stanford School of Medicine.
These new materials are easy to make and use, and they can be easily disposed of by burning. This could allow them to have a variety of applications in areas such as "drug development, food safety, environmental monitoring, veterinary medicine and diagnosing infectious diseases in developing countries."
"Our paper microchip technologies can potentially have a significant impact on infectious diseases management in low- and middle-income countries where there is limited laboratory infrastructure," Shafiee said.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
